Sony Koov

Parents and teachers hunting for creative, hands-on ways to become kids excited about learning tech skills now accept a good amount of choices. LittleBits (an excellent product line nosotros've reviewed favorably, including the contempo Gizmos & Gadgets Kit) and LEGO Mindstorms (we gave the most recent EV3 version an Editors' Pick) are just a couple of the products that let y'all build cool things with chips inside. To a greater or bottom degree, they too instruct kids in what makes these things work, more often than not via learning past doing. Now Sony is jumping into the game with its Koov coding and robotics kit, which has a lot in common with the aforementioned products. The company says Koov stands apart, though, because of the deep yet easy-to-follow lessons it teaches. We had the run a risk to check out a prototype to get some first impressions.

What It Is

Koov is a coding and robotics kit designed to inspire innovation and teach kids ages 8 to 14 Stem (scientific discipline, engineering, engineering, and mathematics) skills forth the fashion; it could make a fine intro for the less tech-savvy adult as well. Koov kits are already being sold in Japan and Communist china. For the US, Sony decided to launch Koov on Indiegogo, a seemingly odd selection for the giant corporation. I'm told it'due south a way for Sony to gauge the market here, to see what Americans call back about the production and mayhap make some changes before manufacturing it on a large calibration. And then the kit I tried is not a terminal product; nosotros won't give Koov a rating until we can bank check out a aircraft US version.

Both the Starter and Advanced kits supply the hardware you lot need to build a robot—CPU blocks, motors, actuators, sensors, LEDs, and colorful plastic building blocks of varying shapes and colors (the colors are meant not to appeal to i gender over another). In the Starter Kit ($359), you get 162 building blocks, 14 sensors and actuators, and one DC motor; you can build up to 14 Robot Recipes. The Advanced Kit ($499) gives you lot 276 blocks, 22 sensors and actuators, two DC motors, gears, and wheels, so you can build all 23 of the current Robot Recipes, including vehicles. Continue in mind that some of the parts are pretty pocket-size, and connecting cables to blocks may require a steady parental hand; the same goes for snapping the blocks of lawmaking together within the app.

The Koov app, included with both kits, encourages y'all to first learning how to make and program a robot via the same educational grade, which takes yous step by step through the coding process with enough of visual help. Instead of a particular language, the app uses draggable code modules, with the goal of teaching the underlying logic of coding. Most older kids can tackle the lessons on their own; parents should probably lend a hand to younger children.

In one case you've learned the basics, you can try out some of the Robot Recipes, which are instructions on how to build predesigned robots. And the bravest can jump into Free Production and create their own bot designs. Sony is likewise offering a safe online community where builders can share designs and support their fellow Koov roboticists.

The Koov App

Earlier y'all tin build, yous demand to kickoff with the app. Starting time, you lot create an avatar and requite it a artistic nickname (you're asked not to use your existent name, presumably anticipating your online presence); you lot can customize it to look how you want. Koov tin support up to four different users, so if you have several potential bot builders in the house, that tin can spread the cost out.

You and then reach the principal interface. You lot can enter either Learning Course, Robot Recipes (instructions on edifice predesigned bots), or Gratuitous Product (where you blueprint your ain robots). In that location's as well a Drove module, which shows your activeness, projects, and badges.

Unless your kids have robot kit experience, the Learning Course is the obvious identify to begin. Within the Learning Course, y'all also have a choice: Proceed in My First Robot Coding or Become a Koov Block Artist—that is, focus on the coding or the pattern. I decided to leap into coding.

The first matter you run across is a class map, which guides you lot through various lessons. To build code, you simply elevate an didactics from a left-hand menu into the center of the screen, and so snap more instructions on until you have a completed block of lawmaking. Y'all can click on Test Mode to check that your code works as you want it to. Once you're done, y'all transport the code to the Core unit of measurement.

Instructions are quite articulate and attainable, with enough of examples and visuals. If you forget a stride or brand a mistake, you get a gentle heads up and clues almost how to fix things.

As you lot complete missions, you're quizzed on what y'all've learned (I tried What is Coding? and Make an LED Glimmer). Once you've answered the challenge question correctly, you lot earn a badge for your new skill.

As y'all get through lessons and find at some point that the written instructions aren't clear enough for yous, y'all can click on "Demand Help?" You're shown an animation of exactly what to do, which is great for visual learners. And if you need to get back and retake a lesson, the course map makes information technology easy to find.

Building a Bot

Once you've fabricated it through the Learning Course, information technology's time to build robots. The schematics for numerous predesigned bots are found in Robot Recipes. They're tagged with difficulty levels and other indicators that'll assistance beginners know where to start. As with the Learning Form, you get stride-past-step instructions, along with animated videos.

I started with a Recipe for building a ship that rocks back and forth. (Information technology had the Starter and Easy tags and comes with the lawmaking already built.) The app get-go shows you all the pieces y'all'll need—information technology helps to count them out earlier you start.

Yous and so go through a serial of building steps guided by the Koov app, with color animations that evidence you lot exactly how the pieces fit together. For trickier assembly steps, yous can cease and drag the blitheness around to meet it from all sides, which is helpful when you lot're working in existent life. I needed just about 45 minutes to put the ship together.

Once your build is complete, you lot're taken to the Coding section. For this project, the "rocking back and along" code was already in place, only Koov encourages you to move it effectually and try different sequences. You can try the lawmaking out in Test mode, and when you're set to plan your bot, you send the code to the processor unit. I'm proud to say my boatbot rocked as intended!

One time you've congenital some Robot Recipes and tried coding bots yourself, you might want to step up and create your own designs. You lot can share your inventions with the Koov community in the Gratis Production department of the app and come across what others are creating equally well. Koov builders can leave comments for and enquire questions of others there too. It's walled and bearding, so parents don't need to worry about inappropriate contact.

Conclusions

Ane thing I really like about Koov is that it has something for everyone. Future engineers will soak up the coding lessons, while kids with a more than artistic bent will beloved the colorful blocks and the artistic possibilities they provide. I also remember the lessons are terrific—they're chock-full of practiced information without being overwhelming, and the app is structured to aid you take hold of and correct your mistakes as yous go.

The Sony Koov kit is platonic for parents who want to explore forth with their kids—and everyone volition likely larn something. As mentioned, some of the parts are rather minor, and may require parental intervention. How much assist your child will need depends on their historic period, patience level, and motivation.

A Koov kit is an investment, though, even at the crowdsourced price. While LittleBits kits don't provide the educational courses that Sony does with Koov, its prices are markedly lower. LEGO Mindstorms kits are closer in price to Koov, and are terrific in their own right, simply might be daunting for beginners.

Nosotros're curious to see what happens with Koov after the Indiegogo campaign ends. If Sony does decide to sell the kit here, we'll update this page with a full review and rating of the concluding Us version.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/robotics-1/16453/sony-koov

Posted by: mcguireectilow.blogspot.com

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